Colorectal Cancer: Overweight increases woman’s risk 67-72 percent

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Thursday, July 29, 2004 1:29 pm Email this article
Being overweight increases a woman???s risk of colorectal cancer by 72 percent, and being obese increases the risk 67 percent compared to lean women according to a new study from researchers at Harvard University. Estrogen replacement increases risk for overweight women, but decreases risk for obese women

Estrogen replacement therapy (HRT) seemed to increase the risk of colorectal cancer in overweight women—an increased risk of 98 percent for overweight women taking hormones versus 5 percent for overweight women who had never taken hormones compared to lean women—but seemed to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer for obese women—an increased risk of 41 percent for obese women taking hormones versus 191 percent for obese women who had never taken hormones compared to lean women.

Overweight women on HRT increased risk 98%

Overweight women who were currently taking estrogen replacement therapy were 98 percent more likely to get colorectal cancer than lean women.

Obese women on HRT increased risk 41%

Obese women were currently using estrogen replacement therapy were 41 percent more likely to get colorectal cancer than lean women.

Overweight women never on HRT increased risk 5%

Overweight women who had never been on hormone replacement therapy were 5 percent more likely to get colorectal cancer than lean women.

Obese women never on HRT increased risk 191%

Obese women who had never been on hormone replacement therapy were 191 percent more likely to get colorectal cancer than lean women.

Definition of overweight and obesity in this study

Overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 27 to 29.9.

Obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or more.

Lean women were defined as having a BMI of less than 23.

Subjects

This study followed 39,876 apparently healthy women 45 years or older for an average of 8.7 years.

A total of 202 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

BMI Table

A BMI Table can be found here.

REFERENCE

Lin J, Zhang S, Cook N, Rexrode K, Lee I, Buring J. Body mass index and risk of colorectal cancer in women (united states). Cancer Causes Control. 2004 Aug, 15(6):581-89.

AUTHOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION

J. Lin
Division of Preventive Medicine
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Harvard Medical School
900 Commonwealth Ave. East
Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Ph.: +1-617-278-0894
Fax: +1-617-232-354
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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• Cancer, Colorectal